David Wilkes, Arup – Chair
David is an Honorary Fellow of CIWEM, a chartered civil engineer, and Global Flood Resilience Leader and a Director of Arup. He is Project Director working on river, coastal and integrated catchment management projects within Europe and across the globe.
David has specialised in coastal, tidal and inland flood risk management for almost 40 years. The first 30 years with the public sector, and the last 10 with Arup as director on a multitude of projects. With the Environment Agency he was responsible for all operations at the Thames Barrier and the 120 miles network of defences which protect London from the storm tides. During this time he set up the TE2100 study to develop plans to protect London against sea level rise to 2100.
His present responsibilities include reviewing and supporting Arup’s flood resilience services globally. This includes being lead flood resilience specialist for 17 major projects in Peru following the devastating ElNino of 2017, as Project Director for helping Bahrain adapt to climate change and sea level rise, and a portfolio of schemes for the Environment Agency and Sheffield City Council. He was Project Director for developing the practice guide to accompany PPS25 – Development and Flood Risk, and for the Cabinet Office report on Flood Resilience of National Infrastructure. David has also advised the Isle of Man Government about their flood risk strategy and his report has been accepted in full.
Before joining Arup, David was a Flood Risk Manager with the Environment Agency and their predecessors, most recently for Yorkshire from 2000 to 2006 and from 1994 to 2000 as Manager of the Thames Barrier in London. During his time with the Environment Agency, David handled several operational and emergency events including the 2000 floods in Yorkshire and water resource protection during the Foot and Mouth epidemic.
Panellists:
Martin Budd, Climate Change Manager at Hull City Council
Martin is the Climate Change Manager for Hull City Council and sits on DEFRA’s Local Authority Adaptation Panel providing advice to Government on the National Adaptation Programme. He has worked in local government for over 30 years in community development, housing regeneration and for most of his career in sustainability and climate change. He has championed the development of the Councils climate mitigation and wider climate adaptation work and leads on the delivery of the Hull 2030 Carbon Neutral Strategy.
Martin initially joined Hull City Council’s Local Agenda 21 Unit before working in the Housing Service on strategic regeneration and then moving to the economic development service in his current role as Climate Change Manager. Martin advises the Government on the local government approach to climate adaptation and sits on the H21 Steering Group and Northern Powergrids Stakeholder Panel.
Helen Todd, Humber Strategic Manager, Environment Agency
Helen has been working for the Environment Agency and involved in managing tidal risk on the Humber for over 20 years. In her role as Humber Strategic Manager she focuses on the strategic management of tidal risk on the Humber and tidal rivers. She provides leadership to the overall Humber team and holds a key role in the development of Humber 2100+, a new strategy for managing tidal flood risk for the Humber for the next 100 years, working in partnership with local authorities and a wide range of stakeholders from around the Humber area.
Alex Codd, Assistant Director of Economic Development & Regeneration, Hull City Council and partner in Living with Water
Alex was appointed Assistant Director for Economic Development & Regeneration in January 2019, prior to this he was the City Planning Manager at Hull City Council for 10 years where among the many things he led were the development of the Council’s first Strategic Flood Risk Assessment and production of the City’s development plan. Prior to this he worked at the Environment Agency for 6 years. He is a qualified Town Planner and was shortlisted for the Young Planner of the Year due to his role in responding to the 2007 floods in Hull.
He leads the Economic Development team in Hull within which he built the Lead Local Authority Flood Team which was a key component leading to Hull becoming 1 of 5 International water resilient cities. He is a board member of the Living with Water Partnership, Humber Nature Partnership and Humber Industrial Cluster plan, and leads on the climate change agenda within the city having formed a new team to enable the city to respond to the climate emergency. He has played a major role in delivering £250m of investment into flood infrastructure which has facilitated in excess of £3.5 billion of investment into the city over the last 5 years, which has included Siemens, RB and Building Schools for Future projects.
Jessica Green, Flood Risk Engineer at Yorkshire Water and the DIG project
Jessica has spent the last 7 years working within the water industry in hydraulic modelling, incident management and flood risk. Having studied Water Engineering at Sheffield University and now Flood Risk and Coastal Management at Lancaster University alongside her full time role at Yorkshire Water, she is responsible for engaging and supporting with lead local flood authorities within Yorkshire to reduce flood risk within the region. Jessica is currently the lead for Yorkshire Water on the DIG Project: DEFRA Innovation Resilience Project and works alongside colleagues supporting the latest flood risk partnership in Yorkshire “ ConnectedByWater”.
Pip Betts, Project Manager at the Flood Innovation Centre (University of Hull)
Pip is an experienced funding programme and project manager brining over 15 years of regional economic development and European funding experience to the Flood Innovation Centre team at the University of Hull.
Pip is responsible for the successful delivery of the Flood Innovation Centre and oversees all projects, supporting Humber based SMEs to develop flood resilience products and solutions and as well as helping them understand and introduce measures to improve their flood risk.
